Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an applicator and tissue fastening method to perform the procedure for fastening tissues through a natural orifice.
Description of Related Art
Transcutaneous insertion of medical instruments as a treatment of body organs is well known. This method is less invasive compared to incising the abdomen, and quick recovery is anticipated.
A medical instrument used for transcutaneous procedures has a shaft made of hard material inserted in the body transcutaneously, with a forceps and so on provided at the front end of the shaft. For instance, a treatment instrument used in applications such as connecting hollow organs is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2005-193044. This intraluminal anastomosis device has a grasper fitted to the front end of the shaft that can freely open and close, and an anastomosis clamp inserted in the shaft. The anastomosis clamp can be pushed out from the front end of the shaft by the protruding device located at proximally to the operator. The anastomosis clamp is formed by annealing shape memory alloy into flat coil shape and inserting it in the shaft in the elongated condition. When the anastomosis clamp is used, the clamp is pushed out from the protruding device and inserted into the body. The surgical clamp is heated by body temperature and restored to its original coil shape. The hollow organs are joined by the restored anastomosis clamp.
Other examples of dispensing the anastomosis clamp are disclosed in the international publication number WO2002/019923. Here, the anastomosis clamp is pushed out from the needle and dispensed to the tissue. For this reason, a stopper is provided to control the depth to which the needle pierces the tissue and the amount of the anastomosis clamp is dispensed into the tissue. When performing the procedure, the instrument containing the anastomosis clamp and the needle is deployed to the tissue. The needle is advanced to pierce the layers of tissue, and the position of the anastomosis clamp is fixed by the stopper. Thereafter, the needle is pulled out of the tissue. The anastomosis clamp does not move because of the stopper; therefore, its front end part remains inside of the inside layer. When the instrument is removed from the tissue, the rest of the anastomosis clamp remains outside of the outside layer. When the coil shape of the anastomosis clamp is restored, the layers of the tissue are anastomosed.